Chapter 2845: Footsteps Outside the Door
As soon as the trait was activated, Xu Huo and the others, who had already reached the room's entrance, inexplicably turned around and walked back out. At the same time, the unfamiliar player, protected by a defensive barrier, charged straight toward the room.
"Don't even think about it!" Yue Yan'er shouted. The instruments she had released earlier exploded in quick succession at the doorway, briefly delaying the opponent. Wang Xin and Xu Huo then flanked from the side, using items to block the person out.
Xu Huo activated his trait "Forced Flashback," while Wang Xin flashed in front of the unfamiliar player, extending both palms forward. The opponent was sent flying backward by a powerful force.
Seizing the opportunity, the black-haired woman, Sparrow, rushed into the room first. She held the door and urged Xu Huo and the others to hurry.
Xu Huo and Yue Yan'er entered the room next, covering Wang Xin as he came in. The unfamiliar player, seemingly realizing the situation was hopeless, turned and left without another word.
This attitude made the expressions of everyone in the room darken.
"Should we leave a crack?" Sparrow asked.
"No need," Xu Huo said. "Close the door tightly."
"Even if rooms with more people carry higher risk, we don't have a second choice."
"Bang!" Sparrow slammed the door shut with force, then stepped back a few paces, staring at the door for a few seconds before speaking. "We're on the fifth underground floor, and there are four of us in a small compartment. If the compartments are meant for single occupancy, wouldn't we be in danger?"
"Brother Yu is right. We don't have a better option," Wang Xin said. "But today is my first day entering the instance. The risk for players stranded outside the compartments should be higher than for those in multi-person rooms."
Yue Yan'er nodded. "That's correct. Also, I placed items outside the door when I came in, which should lower the probability of us being selected. Additionally, I set up some instruments during the day, so even if we're locked in the room, we'll know what's happening outside."
"Let's hope so," Sparrow said, her face showing concern.
"Is there any other clue you haven't mentioned?" Xu Huo looked at her.
Sparrow shook her head slightly. "I really only arrived half a day early and haven't experienced the night. But I overheard players who came earlier saying that the mortality rate for players staying in the small compartments is very high."
"I eavesdropped on that, so I don't know if it's true."
"That's already written in the rules," Wang Xin said. "It's not exactly valuable information."
"I think the same way," Sparrow said, still frowning. "I don't know about the players who came in earlier, but if someone is spreading such news, doesn't it mean that the earlier players couldn't find a way to stop the institute's operations, so they started killing players who had entered the compartments?"
"That's unlikely," Yue Yan'er said. "Just look at tonight's situation. The players squeezed outside are definitely in the minority. Day after day, those who didn't enter today might enter tomorrow. In the end, most players will have been in the compartments. Could they kill them all?"
"Maybe that's exactly the point—to stop the institute's operations," Xu Huo said. "The institute has no energy source, the instance boss is elusive, and the only variable is the number of players."
"Earlier, someone suggested leaving the compartments empty to complete the first task. In practice, leaving them empty is impossible. The easier option is to reduce the number of players."
"If the total number of players in the entire institute drops below a certain threshold, perhaps the institute will stop its operations."
This was based on the premise that the instance would always leave players a way out. If there was an absolute gap between the instance boss and the players, and the boss could hunt players at night while the supposedly safe compartments couldn't guarantee survival, then players would have almost no chance of surviving. Therefore, there had to be a loophole in the rules to exploit.
"Let's not even talk about whether your guess is reliable. Even if it's true, we basically can't rely on the first task to clear the instance!" Yue Yan'er said. "The longer it takes, the more players will come in. Besides the Purple Life Research Institute, there are other institutes and player organizations."
The group exchanged glances, momentarily unsure whether waiting for the incoming players to be killed by the instance boss or waiting for those who had entered the compartments to be killed was the harder option.
"Is this the difficulty level of an A-rank instance?" Xu Huo changed the subject.
"Not necessarily," Yue Yan'er paused. "It's just that spatial instances are more complex and harder to figure out the patterns."
"Maybe we should first look around to see if there are any new items here?" Sparrow suggested.
Wang Xin returned the finger covers to Xu Huo and said with a smile, "We can't make noise at night. I wonder if knocking around in the room counts."
Xu Huo glanced at the sealed spatial barrier and shook his head. "Better not. I'm afraid we might not knock out any items but instead knock in the instance boss."
Wang Xin was just joking. After that, the group began to search the room.
The small compartments in the basement weren't large and didn't have much in them. To find newly spawned items, they had to feel around with their hands. With spatial power interference, players could no longer rely on their eyesight or instruments to determine where items might be placed.
The spatial power-formed partition completely isolated the inside of the room from the outside. Xu Huo's perception couldn't penetrate it, but fortunately, the situation inside the room was clear enough. He could distinctly feel areas where spatial power was unevenly distributed.
He touched the metal wall on the left side and tried to manipulate the spatial rays there. Finding the effect mediocre, he deliberately placed the "Cube Space" next to the wall, hoping that after the instrument assimilated the spatial rays, it might become easier.
Just then, footsteps suddenly sounded from outside the door!
What was going on?
Why were there footsteps!
The four people in the room exchanged glances and all held their breath. Xu Huo also put the "Cube Space" back into his luggage compartment.
The footsteps came from deep within the corridor—Xu Huo and the others were near the elevator shaft, which was also the central point of each floor. The footsteps came from the left, but they could all be sure that no player had gone in that direction.
Soon, the footsteps reached their door but didn't stop, heading straight to the right.
As the footsteps gradually faded away, the expressions of Xu Huo and the others relaxed to varying degrees. However, just two or three seconds later, the footsteps returned, each step loud and clear, as if pacing back and forth.
The four had already prepared for battle and sealed the door with items. Fortunately, the footsteps disappeared after two rounds, seemingly heading toward the elevator shaft.
After waiting a while longer to confirm they wouldn't return, Wang Xin spoke. "It seems the instance's creation is definitely related to the experimental subjects. This kind of back-and-forth pacing is more like a patrol. With such strict supervision, the subjects are most likely human."
If they were locking up mutants or other animals, there would be no need for the staff to risk coming in for inspections.